In response to the statement issued on February 26, 1999 by several Muslim organizations ("American Muslim leaders demand retraction and apology"), the Islamic Supreme Council of America issued the following statement.

As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh.

It is regretful and shameful but also revealing that AMPCC, American Muslim Alliance, AMC, CAIR, MPAC, ICNA, ISNA, and MSA have issued a very misleading statement condemning Shaykh Hisham Kabbani's recent speech at the US State Department. Instead of following the Islamic etiquette of disagreement and speaking directly with Shaykh Kabbani about their "concerns," they followed a path more typical of tabloid journalism, seeking a broad-based dissemination of their defamatory claims without regard for the truth. Even more disheartening, they also chose an approach reticent of the "Salem Witch Hunts" in America, which sought to enforce its ideological perspective, regardless of the costs to human life, dignity, and mutual tolerance and respect.

As salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. It is a greeting in the Arabic language which means peace be upon you all. I was very happy to see that my name was written double "shaykh." Because you know that shaykh might mean oil shaykh, or a fundamentalist, extremist. So two opposites make a positive -- two negatives multiplied by each other become a positive. So those who wrote that were very clever... thank you very much.

As a gesture of respect and humility, Shaykh Nazim travelled from Northern Cyprus to meet the pontiff in the UN buffer zone, and present him with gifts of a cane, a plaque with the word “peace” in Arabic and prayer beads. The Pope, in turn, presented Shaykh Nazim with a medal of his pontificate. In Islam, exchanging gifts is a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (s) who said, “Exchange gifts, as that will lead to increasing your love to one another [Bukhari].